Cigna to transition to work-at-home arrangement

The employees of Cigna Healthcare were assembled Thursday afternoon to be informed of the company's transition to home-based operations.

"We met with them [Thursday] to discuss with them the fact that we are going to go from working in the offices on South Horton to a work-at-home arrangement," Cigna Healthcare Spokesman Joseph Mondy said.

With the transition will come some job cuts, however the number of job to be cut is not yet known. Mondy said that most of the current 270 employees will keep their job.

"Most of the folks will transition, but not all of them," he said. "In some cases, their position simply won't correspond to work-at-home arrangements ... Those positions will be impacted."

According to Mondy, the primary reason behind the transition is to reduce costs. He said it is one of the moves the organization is doing along with more automated aspects and "24-7 operations" to reduce the overall cost.

Cigna Healthcare is operating work-at-home operations for one-third of its claims examiners. Mondy said the arrangement works well and that most employees like it.

"The employees seem to like it, they don't have to commute, they don't have to park," he said.

With Cigna Healthcare only renewing their lease on the building on South Horton for one year, many of the employees anticipated the transition.

"I think there was an anticipation that we would be going toward work-at-home," Mondy said. "I think there is a recognition that this is something that is expected."

The transition is expected to begin in a couple of weeks and be completed by the end of June when the lease expires, according to Mondy. It will take some time to get the employees transitioned into the arrangement and to get the technology set up for them to work from home.

"It's really going to be a three month process," Mondy said.

Cigna has been in Fort Scott for two years after acquiring Great West Health Care in 2007.